Laurent Fabius is a former Socialist Prime Minister of France. He led the government from July 17, 1984 to March 20, 1986.
Fabius became an auditor for the Council of State and was first elected to the French National Assembly in 1978 as the Socialist Party candidate for the fourth constituency of Seine Maritime. He quickly gained entry to the circle of François Mitterrand, the leader of the party. When Mitterrand was elected President of France in 1981, Fabius was nominated Minister of the Budget. Two years later, he became Minister of Industry then Prime Minister in 1984. He resigned after the Socialist defeat in the 1986 legislative election. Fabius failed to win the First Secretaryship of the party in 1988 and 1990, but installed as chairman of the National Assembly in 1988, he succeeded finally in becoming First Secretary of the party in 1992, but resigned after the Socialist disaster of the 1993 legislative election.
Fabius returned as chairman of the National Assembly in 1997, then as Minister of Economy between 2000 and 2002. He declared that his mind was changed about a number of matters and he joined the left-wing of the party. He went on to lead the rebel faction of the party advocating a no vote in the 2005 Referendum, and was seen as the spearhead of the whole no campaign in France. After the no vote won, the party leader gave an assurance that he could remain in the party though he was dismissed from the party’s National Executive Committee. He was a candidate in the Socialist Party’s primary election to be the party’s candidate in the 2007 presidential election, but finished third.
Source - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Fabius
